The Hunter's Memories
by Enderdeath731
Summary: User has been to the land of the dead - and it's scarred him deeply. His smile hides the fear inside and his laughter is just a disguise for a scream of terror. Twisted is the only one who knows about this and he tries to be there for User; but how can he when his best friend keeps pushing him away? Seventh and last in the Mianite Collection
1. Nightmares

**Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new story! 1,442 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

The Hunter's Memories

_Dark grey trees thrust their twisted branches up into the blackened sky, bare of any leaves and riddled with ugly knotholes. A cold wind whistled through the forest, swirling through the pearly white fog that lay thickly over the ground like a heavy blanket. Dark, humanoid shapes drifted through the trees, murmuring faint nothings as they floated a few inches off the ground. They seemed like black spirits, lost and twisted with evil and corruption._

_A faint scream drifted through the trees and all the lost spirits halted, staring off in the direction of the scream with blank, hollow eye sockets. Eventually, one after the other, the spirits shrugged and went back to wandering around pointlessly._

_A young man who appeared to be half-faded burst out of the trees, panting heavily out of fright. His eyes were wide from terror and his light brown hair was plastered to his forehead by a cold sweat. His dark blue jacket was badly torn, and his orange-and-white striped T-shirt was stained and ragged, splattered with small drops of dark blood._

_He collapsed on the gnarled roots of a crooked oak tree, chest heaving as tears streamed down his pale face. The man glanced around, his frail body shaking badly._

_"__Why?" He croaked, then swallowed nervously. "Why me?"_

_Some of the lost spirits turned to look at him, and for a second, their eyes flashed a variety of different colours – blue-grey, hazel, brown – and then the colours fell away, leaving nothing but a blank, slate-like stare. The young man froze, shrinking back into the mess of roots as he stared at the lost spirits. His eyes held no relief as they turned away from him and went back to their own business._

_The young man reached up, and with a trembling hand, pulled his gold-rimmed goggles down over his eyes. He blinked, and shook his head slowly, taking his goggles off after just a couple more seconds._

_"__She promised that I would always be able to see hope," He whispered. "But there isn't any here. It just gets darker through the night vision."_

_A loud hissing noise came from behind him and he yelped, practically throwing himself away from the tree. Another lost spirit emerged from behind the tree, eyes glowing red as it glared at the young man._

_"__Help!" The man's terrified shriek rose above the dead trees as the world faded into complete darkness._

"User! Wake up! You were having another nightmare!" User's eyes snapped open and he glanced around fearfully, still caught up in the horrible world of his dream.

"They're going to kill me!" User screamed, thrashing around. There were the bare, dead branches of the gnarled oak trees of the forest that User had seen in his nightmare, arched above his head. He felt like he was bound in a thick rope, restraining him from any movement. And there seemed to be a dark spirit next to him, brown eyes glinting in – concern?

Then User blinked and the world returned to normal. There were no twisted trees, or binding ropes, or lost souls. There was only support beams for the roof, and his soft bed sheets, which were tangled around him.

And there was Twisted, staring at User with worried eyes. He was wearing his usual white T-shirt and dark brown leather jacket and his ginger beard was neatly trimmed.

"User? Are you alright?" Twisted asked, tipping his head to one side questioningly. User closed his eyes for a few seconds, taking deep breaths as he tried to calm his frantically beating heart.

"I – I'm fine," User breathed. "Just another nightmare."

"Again?" Twisted sounded surprised. "Same one?"

"Yeah," User sighed, not looking at Twisted. "It's always the same one. Right before you revived me. Right before -" he broke off with a shudder, struggling to keep memories from overwhelming him. He could almost see the smoky hand resting on his shoulder, could hear the lost soul's raspy breath, and could feel his life being drained out of him…

"Hey," Twisted's soft voice pulled User's thoughts away from his horrific memories. "Listen. You're alive now. You're going to stay alive. You're safe from what you saw in the land of the dead."

"Am I really though?" User trembled. "I can't remember the last time I actually slept good for a night because of that bloody nightmare. Actually, the last time I slept well was before I died, and wasn't plagued by these awful dreams."

"There's nothing I can do to help get rid of dreams," Twisted glanced down regretfully. "Believe me, if there was something, then I would do it in a heartbeat."

"I know you would," User half-smiled, though his eyes were filled with sadness. "But you can't change anything about my past – or future."

Twisted was silent for a few seconds, apparently lost deep in the world of thought. Finally, he slammed his closed fist down on User's bedside table, making the wizard jump with fright.

"It's not fair!" Twisted roared, his eyes burning with anger. "You've never done anything to deserve this – this – this absolute _shit_ that's been happening to you! First me going straight up insane and torturing you, then you almost dying to save me, and then committing suicide because of when Dec snapped at you! Then all this crap with the nightmares and it's just…" Twisted voice cracked and he broke off, the fury in his eyes replaced with a broken look. "None of this should have ever happened."

User swallowed, staring at his hands, which were resting on the sheets. One time, not long ago, they would have been constantly moving, running through his hair, adjusting his goggles, or straightening his T-shirt. Now, they were still, all the life-filled energy drained away.

"Nothing in life should happen," User murmured. "But it does anyway. We have to cope with it though because let's be honest – what are we really in the great span of the universe? Insignificant bugs, created by Notch, who ordered the Fates to watch over us, to twist our lives and to break us. Now, we are helpless in the power of Mianite, Dianite, Ianite, and Khione. We're just toys in the hands of the gods. Toys can be ruined, or broken, or destroyed. And we are not so easily repaired."

"Stop," Twisted closed his eyes and shuddered. "Don't think about that. You once told me that if everyone thought like that, then there would be no such thing as hope. We have to believe that things will get better. That's the only way we can live."

"Look at me, Twisted," User choked. "Do I look like I can find hope anymore? I've been to the land of the dead. There was literally no hope there. It was just the worst kind of evil that you can imagine. It was -" User stopped mid-sentence again, not wanting to confess what he had seen there.

Twisted didn't press the matter, but sat down next to User on the bed. User tensed when he felt Twisted put his arm around his shoulders, feeling an irrational pang of fear. He didn't want to be touched anymore – any sort of physical contact brought back more painful memories.

"I'm just trying to help," Twisted pleaded. "I know you said you're broken. So just tell me what I need to do."

"There's nothing you can do for me now," User admitted mournfully.

"Nonsense," Twisted sounded indignant. "Duct tape fixes everything."

User snorted with amusement, the sorrow from his heart lifting for just a few seconds. Duct tape – of course. How could he have forgotten about the most amazing substance in the world, which people called 'duct tape'?

"Hold on, let me grab some," Twisted ordered, then summoned a very large roll of duct tape to his hand. He pulled a little bit of it away and tried to stick it to User's chest.

"Stop!" User laughed, scrambling away from Twisted. Unfortunately, he was still lying in bed, so all he achieved was rolling onto the floor with a painful _thump._

"Never!" Twisted grinned and walked around to where User was lying on the floor. He taped the wizard's hands to the floor, and ignoring User's thrashing around, wrapped him up like a duct tape mummy.

"_Mmph_!" User tried to yell at Twisted, but there was a large bit of duct tape over his mouth. Twisted himself was doubled over laughing, the duct tape still grasped in his hands. "Mmph mmph mmph!"

"What's that?" Twisted asked innocently, knowing full well what User was trying to say. "I couldn't understand you. Could you perhaps speak up?"

"_Mm-mmph mmmmmmmmph_!"

**Ah, duct tape! There really isn't anything it can't fix! XD Also, did anyone watch Twisted's POV for his and User's new _Castaways_ series? I'm not quite sure what was wrong with Twisted... but it was definitely funny! XD  
**

**Random Observation: I edited the cover image for this story all the while listening to 'Dragons' - a Minecraft parody by Mineworks Animations. Go listen to it if you never have before - it's really awesome!**

**(Oh, and Diamond? Remember how I said that you may not be affected by the feels so much if something were to happen to Tom? I think I may be wrong - I finished writing Chapter 7 at almost midnight last night, and I was literally _shaking_ \- though from fear or the feels I knew not.)**


	2. Liar

**Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,355 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 2

_"__Where are we going?" The young boy asked his father, his light brown eyes wide with innocence. He couldn't have been more than eight, possibly younger. He wore a dark blue jacket that was several sizes too big over his orange-and-white striped T-shirt._

_His father, a tall man with close-cropped light brown hair, looked back at the boy, who was skipping along happily behind him. He smiled slightly, beckoning for the boy to come closer with one hand._

_"__We're going to town for a quick trip," His father responded lightly. "And I promise to get you a nice stick of rock sugar candy."_

_"__Candy?" The boy perked up, a wide grin appearing on his face. "Any flavour I want?"_

_"__Any flavour you want," His father nodded. "Now come on, Richard. Pick up your feet – we've got a ways to go if we want to reach the town before noon._

_Richard and his father sped up their pace, walking side by side. Richard seemed to get distracted by many things – a small purple flower on the side of the path, a cluster of speckled mushrooms, a deer bounding away through the woods. Richard's father was patient with his son and watched him dart around with amusement sparkling in his dark green eyes._

_"__Dad! Look!" Richard knelt down by the roots of a young birch tree, studying something on the ground. Richard's father came over to see what Richard was looking at, blinking curiously._

_Lying on the ground was a fallen nest, probably blown out of the tree by a strong breeze. There were two baby birds inside, chirping fearfully as they glanced around with wide, dark eyes. They didn't appear old enough to fly yet, and were fluttering their puny wings nervously._

_"__Can we help them, Dad?" Richard begged. "I bet their mother is oh so worried about them. And they're going to die if they stay down here. Please, Dad, it will only take a second! And we can make the Mama Bird happy that her babies are safe."_

_Richard's father hesitated, but when Richard looked at him with wide, pleading eyes, he sighed in defeat and gently scooped up the bird's nest. The baby birds starting chirping louder, crying out in fear. Richard reached up and gently stroked one of the little birds' head with his finger, then seemingly chirping back at them. The baby birds calmed down quickly after that and Richard's father glanced at his son, surprised._

_"__Alright, Richard. Here they go," Richard's father gently tucked the nest into a crook in the branch of the birch tree, making sure it was safe and secure._

_"__Thanks Dad," Richard grinned and hugged his father. "Now the Mama Bird can be happy."_

_Richard's father smiled, but it was almost overshadowed by a lingering sadness. He gently took Richard's hand and led him away from the bird's nest, the mood turning solemn around them._

_"__Dad?" Richard asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. "What was my mom like?"_

_Richard's father froze in his tracks and his grip on Richard's hand visibly tightened. The young boy stared up at his father, waiting patiently for an answer._

_"__Well, Richard," his father began cautiously. "When I first met her, she was the nicest, kindest woman you could ever hope to fall in love with. She was as perfect as a goddess in my eyes. Then, when you were about three years old, we both realized there was something – different about you. We weren't sure quite what it was but we could both feel it. Your mother didn't want to keep you but I objected. We spent so many nights arguing over what we should do. Finally, one night after it got particularly bad, she screamed that if I wanted to keep you so badly, then she was going to leave. I didn't back down. She left. I haven't seen her since."_

_Richard was quiet for a long time, his eyes fixated on a distant point. "I'm sorry," He finally murmured. "I didn't mean to make her angry."_

_"__It's not your fault," Richard's father sounded like he was trying to swallow down a wave of bitterness. "Kaylen made her own choice. If she had just been willing to accept the fact that you weren't like other kids, then maybe things would be different. But she was too blind to see that you were special in your own way."_

_"__The kids at school say I'm a freak," Richard admitted suddenly. "Are they right? Am I a freak?"_

_"__Now why would you be a freak?" Richard's father frowned at his son, clearly concerned by what Richard had just confessed._

_"__Because I can hear the animals speaking," Richard said after a moment's hesitation. "When they're happy I can hear them laughing. When they're sad I can hear them crying. Sometimes I talk with them and try to help them."_

_"__You what?" Richard's father narrowed his eyes. "Richard, that's not possible. It's not nice to lie."_

_"__But I'm not lying!" Richard raised his voice indignantly. "I can hear the squirrels in the trees talking about how they're worried that winter is coming and that they may not have enough food. I can hear the rabbits saying how there's no good place to dig a burrow and that they may freeze to death in the cold. And I can hear the birds saying how it's time to fly south before a blizzard comes. I can hear all of them, Dad. They're so sad and upset and I wish that I could help them all but I can't! Please believe me, Dad. I'm not lying, I promise."_

_"__You can – hear animals?" Richard's father sounded incredibly doubtful. "What were those baby birds saying then?"_

_"__They – they were crying out for help, but they got scared when you picked them up because they didn't know who you were. I told them that we were helping them and that they would be safe," Richard explained. "Then they calmed down and said 'thank you'."_

_"__Really?" Richard's father said coldly. "Richard, if you want to talk to me, go right ahead, but you have to stop lying. I will not tolerate this nonsense any longer."_

_"__But I'm not!" Richard yelled, tears beginning to shine in his eyes. "I'm not lying! I swear to Notch I'm telling you the truth! I really can talk to animals and they can talk back to me!"_

_"__Richard!" The boy fell silent, staring up at his father with fearful eyes. "Enough! If you can't behave, then we are going right back home. You're lucky that your punishment for lying will be mild. I could make it so much worse you know. Would you really want to go through that again?"_

_Richard shuddered and flinched away from his father, clearly scared. His father didn't back down, instead grabbing Richard's hand and holding onto it tightly – much too tightly. Richard whimpered, but allowed himself to be pulled along as his father started walking back down the path._

_"__You remember what happened the last time you lied to me?" Richard's father snarled. "Tell me what happened."_

_"__You – you made me drink a potion of harming, level two," Richard responded timidly. "And then I had to stay in bed for the next ten days so I wouldn't die from the aftereffects."_

_"__Exactly," Richard's father snapped. "This time, it will only be level one. It won't hurt quite as much, but it will still be an appropriate punishment for your lies."_

_Richard started trembling as they neared their house, which was a small cabin made out of birch wood. His father threw open the spruce door and stormed inside, tugging Richard along forcefully. He opened a cupboard and grabbed a bottle filled with a dark, murky liquid._

_"__Drink up, and let this be a lesson to you, Richard," Richard's father said coldly, handing the young boy the potion. "Don't ever lie to me again."_

_And through all the autumn forest, where the trees were just beginning to lose their leaves, Richard's pained scream echoed through the chilly air as he accepted his punishment for the truth._

**I swear, User as a young'un has _got_ to be the cutest thing I've ever written about! I just want to give him a hug and let him know that everything's going to be okay... even if it's not.  
**

**Random Observation: Earlier today I was thinking about what would happen if User read these stories and what he would think... needless to say, I started freaking out at the thought of him even _reading_ these! XD (And no, I'm probably not going to send the link to him because that would require me learning how to use Twitter... and I don't really like Twitter.)  
**

**RusYRP: Yay! User is indeed back, and I will make sure to include as many feels as possible!**

**ironhideandratchet4ever: Oh, just you wait... I've really been going ham on the pre-writing, and the feels in Chapter 7 should definitely give your heart a little twist... ;)**

**DiamondScribe: I was _shaking_, Diamond. SHAKING! True though, I didn't cry like I did when I was writing Chapter 7 of TPD when User killed himself...**


	3. Dragon

**Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,266 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 3

I roared, landing clumsily on the turret of a strangely shaped tower. My claws carved long gouges into the wood and stone, sending chips of the material falling far down into the pit below. A nicely built bridge spanned the pit, leading into the entrance of the tower. There was bright blue-and-white lettering on the front, but since I couldn't read it, it was deemed unimportant to me.

My dark purple eyes scanned the landscape below me, searching for any human prey that might wander across my path. There was no movement to be seen and I scowled. I came here to _hunt_, to _kill_, and yet there was nothing?

I snarled angrily and took flight again, smashing my heavy tail into the turret out of spite. The turret crumbled, dust flying up from the broken stone.

I was a monster. I considered the rest of my kind weak, and unable to defend themselves properly. I had been created as a secret weapon, made to destroy the Overworld and take over so my mistress could rule all the lands. Once her brothers were dead, then we would be almighty, ruling with infinite power.

My scales were tougher than diamond, and my only weak spot was hidden; barely visible even if you knew where it was. My claws were silver, and strong enough to take down an immortal with one swipe. I could hear the smallest sound and see the tiniest bit of prey, even from miles away.

I was bred to be a killing machine and I was perfectly fine with that. Ender dragons could live for millennia, and if no one could kill me, then I was undefeatable.

The draft from my wings nearly knocked over the acacia trees beneath me, halfway uprooting them from the grassy savannah plains. I passed a tall mountain that had a head built into it and I snarled at it, not liking the way it appeared to be looking at me. I snapped at it, biting off a big chunk of its face. I immediately spat it out, realizing that I had just bitten through a huge chunk of wool and wood.

"_Idiot_," I cursed myself, then just so I could take out my anger on _something_, I smashed the head to bits. Soon, there was nothing left except for a few stray bits of red and white wool and a pile of splinters.

"_Stupid mortals_," I growled. "_Why can't they just have some sense for once?_ _Why can't they just be around for me to kill them?_"

That's when I spotted him.

He looked a lot like the head I just destroyed – with the red and white hat and shaggy black hair.

But he had a special honour coming for him.

My first kill in this new world.

I angled myself into a swift and silent dive, my large wings cutting through the wind with ease. The human had his back to me and was strolling along very casually, not having a care in the world. I grinned, showing off my sharp white fangs. Soon… soon…

I breathed in deeply and felt my chest heating up. This human was about to become barbequed to a crisp – my favourite way of preparation.

The human turned around at the last second and when he saw me, his expression changed several different times in just half a second – confusion, realization, shock, and terror.

He screamed and dove out of the way, barely avoiding my burst of white-hot flame. I snarled in annoyance, landing heavily on the ground. The earth shook beneath my feet and I prepared to shoot more fire at the human.

"Help!" He screamed, scrambling backwards with wide eyes. "Someone help me!"

"_There is no help for you now_," I growled, then breathed more fire at the human. He just barely managed to roll away, but his vest had caught fire. He quickly patted the little flames out, then ran from yet another blast of flames. He sprinted into a small staircase-style mineshaft, and I roared in frustration, scraping at the entrance. My paws were too large to fit in the mineshaft and I glared into the darkness, seeing the human far down the tunnel, trembling violently with fear.

"_You will regret not accepting your chance at death today,_" I snarled. "_When my mistress takes over the world, you must expect her to not leave anything alive… including puny humans._"

"And who is your mistress?" The human called up to me, his voice shaky. I grinned evilly, making sure that he saw my pointed fangs.

"_The one who had been wronged by her brothers… imprisoned and set free… and the one whom you must fear_," I spoke coldly, and without a trace of hesitation. "_My mistress and I will rule the world together, holding the highest power. No one will dare cross us and we will crush anyone who stands in our way. Do not doubt us, human. You are nothing but a worthless pawn in our game of dominance. Tell your friends what I have said. Your time is over._"

I roared once more – a noise that made the ground tremble and trees shake – before taking off into the air and flying swiftly away. I had passed on the message of my task, and even though I had not killed the mortal, I was sure that he would be cowering in fear from now till the time I will kill him.

I flew on for several hours, making good distance with each smooth wing beat. Finally, I landed next to a small pond in a grassy plain, my wings aching. I drank a little bit from the crystal clear pond, noticing that the sunset make it look like the sky was stained with scarlet blood.

Suddenly, the pond shimmered, and the glass-like water turned an inky black. I reared away from the pond in surprise, watching on in confusion as ripples spread across the surface.

"_Kundime_," I heard my mistress's voice coming from the blackened pond. I crept forwards cautiously, my wings spread out stiffly.

There was my mistress's face, staring up at me from the pond, her different coloured eyes narrowed.

"_Have you been completing the task I sent you to do?_" She asked smoothly, her voice icy cold.

"_Not yet,_" I growled back. "_Those mortals are faster than I realized. I almost killed one today, but he just barely managed to escape. I promise not to disappoint you though, m'lady._"

"_You'd better not,_" My mistress threatened, her eyes flashing with anger. "_I sent you to the Overworld with one sole purpose – to kill. Kill everyone. Everything. If one human remains alive within the next week, I will not hesitate to strike you down and use your hide as armour."_

I flinched at her threat, knowing full well that she would carry out her vow with the utmost vigilance. "_I shall not fail,_" I promised again, flicking my spiny tail.

"_Good,_" My mistress nodded. "_And remember Kundime – you have one week."_

Her image shimmered and her face disappeared from the surface of the pond. The water turned clear again, faintly reflecting the dying sunlight.

I sighed softly and curled up on the ground, my wings creating a large, soft blanket. One week. One week to kill so many. I had no doubts that I could do it, but it would be challenging, I felt sure. They would easily be able to escape me because of their smaller size, and they were almost ridiculously fast. But no matter.

"_Soon,_" I whispered hoarsely. "_Our conquest will come._"

**OH! THE SUSPENSE! THE DRAGON'S MISTRESS HAS SPOKEN!**

**Random Observation: 'Kundime' is pronounced like this - "Koon-DEEM-ee". Not "CUN-dime" or "Koon-deh-MEH" or anything like that.**

**ironhideandratchet4ever: I feel that you may feel strongly about the feels to come! XD**

**RusYRP: Yeah, pain is my specialty. I don't understand why, but I've always been interested in violence and pain (Not saying I would ever take part in causing it!), but of course, that may just come from the fact that I've been watching wrastling since I was young. There's a lot of pain in that!  
**

**DiamondScribe: The only thought that went through my head after watching 'Castaways' was "What the hell was wrong with Twisted?!" And what you said about the 'soft piece of meat' - well, I said something wronger than that yesterday. Me and my cousin were at my house, messing around with an alto sax (because neither of us actually know how to play saxophone), and she asked for a turn to play it. My dad glanced over at us and said "Alright, you try to blow it." My response - "That sounded so wrong...". My dad immediately started yelling "I was talking about the saxophone! _The saxophone_! Geez, *insert real name here*, you have a dirty little mind!" I was laughing so hard though, and my cousin was too! XD  
**

**TheUserCreated: No doubt! ;)**


	4. River

**Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,593 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 4

"User? User, c'mon buddy. Let's go build something with the others," Twisted pleaded. User stared blankly at the ground, his hands trembling slightly. He had been like this all afternoon, not moving or speaking. Twisted was getting extremely worried, to say the least.

In fact, he was worried about everything that seemed off with User. He had barely eaten anything these last few days and was growing incredibly scrawny. He hadn't wanted to go hunting either, something that Twisted realized was horribly wrong.

And lastly, User was _quiet_. He was never quiet – always talking, or laughing, or singing. But ever since he had been brought back from the land of the dead, he had been becoming more and more reclusive, and almost refused to talk with anyone. When he did speak, his voice was muffled and slightly shaky, as though he was terrified for his life.

"User? Look at me, okay?" Twisted begged, blinking. User didn't move or give any response that he had heard.

Twisted swallowed and reached out, resting his hand on User's shoulder. His best friend's reaction to the contact was, to say the least, frantic.

"No, no, no!" User screamed, his head snapping up to stare fearfully at Twisted. Twisted jerked back in shock, staring at User with wide eyes.

"Please no! Don't kill me!" User lunged backwards and pressed himself against the wall, shaking violently. Twisted quickly realized that User wasn't entirely focused on his present surroundings.

User's light brown eyes were dimmed and he was looking through Twisted as though he wasn't even there. When Twisted tried to walk over to him, User shrunk down, as though trying to make himself appear smaller.

"What's wrong?" Twisted asked, walking over to User very slowly so as not to alarm him. "Why are you so scared of me?"

User teared up, and without answering, turned and ran out the door, fleeing off down the neat gravel path. Twisted's eyes widened with surprise and without hesitation, chased after the wizard.

User kept tripping over small rocks in the ground and swerving around empty spaces, as though he was in a different layer of reality. Twisted frowned, concerned that he wasn't gaining on User, but his friend was running far too quickly to be caught, even with his clumsy progress.

"User!" Twisted called, seeing the steep cliff that led down to the ocean right ahead of User. "Stop! You're going to -"

User glanced back fearfully, and as he did so, he tripped over a small stone and fell, flailing, down the cliff. Twisted's heart caught in his throat and he darted over, panic making his breath come in short gasps.

Twisted breathed out a shaky sigh of relief when he saw User swimming clumsily through the water, looking slightly scraped up but no worse for the wear. Twisted descended the cliff slightly more cautiously, diving into the water once he got closer to the bottom.

User was at the other side of the little estuary, but was having trouble climbing up the muddy bank. He kept slipping back down, unable to hold onto the soft dirt.

"User!" Twisted swam over to him, disappointment weighing him down as User whipped around and stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. He hunkered down with his back against the embankment, ignoring the fact that he was getting mud smeared all over his spotless jacket.

Twisted felt silt under his feet and stood up, brackish water dripping from his clothes. He waded over to where User was trembling, curled up defensively against the bank.

User was a pitiful sight – his normally spotless jacket stained with dark mud, his hair plastered to his forehead with saltwater, and breathing heavily from panic and overexertion.

"User, it's okay. It's me – Twisted," Twisted talked softly, sitting down in front of User when he reached his terrified friend. User pressed his back against the slick bank as far as he could, not taking his fearful light brown eyes off of Twisted for even a second. "I'm not going to hurt you. There's nothing to be scared of here."

User was silent, still shaking violently. Twisted reached out slowly, watching as User's scared eyes followed his hand. Twisted gently rested his hand on User's shoulder, stifling a cry of despair when he realized how tense his best friend was, as if prepared to be hurt or killed.

"It's alright, User," Twisted whispered soothingly, retracting his hand. User whimpered, blinking rapidly. Small waves swirled around him, creating an almost mesmerizing effect from the brownish water.

It pained Twisted to see User so afraid of him, even though he knew full well that it was nothing he could control. Something had happened to User in the land of the dead – something that had terrified him to the point where he couldn't even live his life normally any more.

The sun had sunk almost out of sight by the time User finally relaxed. He blinked once, twice, before finally focusing on Twisted. The distant look had been dropped from his eyes, but it had been replaced with a shattered, despairing, gaze.

"Twist – Twisted?" He whispered quietly, his voice almost inaudible. Twisted smiled faintly, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was still very wrong with User. He seemed too frail – too broken.

"It's alright, User," Twisted murmured, trying to reassure himself. "You're safe."

User trembled for a second more, then practically hurled himself at Twisted, sobbing hysterically. Twisted hugged the wizard tightly, closing his eyes mournfully as he listened to User's heartbroken crying.

"I – I'm sorry," User sniffled. "I – I th - thought I was b – back in the l – land of the – the dead again, and – and…" he broke off as a violent shudder ran through his body, choking out muffled sobs.

"Shhh. It's okay. You don't have to talk about it," Twisted whispered, not caring about anything else other than calming User down. "You're here now. You're safe."

"But I'm n – not," User whimpered. "I – I can't keep liv - living like this."

Twisted hugged User a little bit tighter, ignoring the mud stains on User's dark blue jacket. "I'm here to keep you safe. I promise you now, I won't let anything else bad happen to you."

User pulled away, his head hanging. "I – I wish you could," he choked. "But I'm – I'm already broken."

"Then I'll pull you back together," Twisted smiled reassuringly. User gave him a weak smile in return, but his eyes still harboured a haunted look. "C'mon. Let's go back up to the house. To home."

"Home," User murmured, saying the word as though it were foreign to him. "Wh – where is home anymore? My home sh – should be in the land of the d – dead right now."

"No," Twisted said firmly, wrapping his arm around User's shoulder's as he helped the shaky wizard up. "Your home is here. With us. With me."

User shrugged Twisted's arm off. "If only that were t – true."

"It is true!" Twisted struggled not to raise his voice. He wanted so badly to scream at User that he was being senseless, that he was safe here. But he knew it would only scare his friend even more.

"But I was d – dead!" User argued, hauling himself up the bank. "If it weren't for you I would be just another lost soul, roaming around with no purpose other than to kill newcomers to the world!"

"Wait, what?" Twisted asked, shocked. User had never told him about this.

User flinched, and he stumbled, falling down to the ground again. Twisted clambered up the bank, panting slightly from the effort and moved to sit next to User.

User wasn't attempting to move, just lying on his stomach and crying softly again. Twisted swallowed as he looked at User, and not for the first time doubting that he would be okay.

"What's going on out here?" A shocked voice sounded from the doorway of Syndicate's house and Twisted looked up, meeting Syndicate's surprised gaze. User jerked back fearfully, almost knocking Twisted over as he rammed into the half-wizard.

Twisted instinctively put his hand on User's shoulder, as if meaning to protect him from any sort of harm. Syndicate stared at the duo before walking over to them and leaving the warmth of his house.

"Is User okay?" Syndicate directed the question at Twisted, his voice holding a note of concern. Twisted wordlessly shook his head, feeling User start to tremble again. Syndicate blinked understandingly and knelt down next to them.

"Do you want to stay at my house tonight?" Syndicate asked User gently. "You look like you could barely walk three meters without collapsing and your house is up a very steep hill. You're in no shape to go anywhere at this point."

"Thank – thank you," User stuttered weakly. He allowed Syndicate and Twisted to help him to his feet, but he was leaning heavily on Twisted as they made their way slowly over to Syndicate's house. Syndicate opened the door and told User to go upstairs to his bedroom – the mortal would sleep in his vault tonight.

"There's a second bedroom on the third floor for you, Twisted," Syndicate smiled. "If you need anything, just let me know."

Twisted watched as User took a deep breath when Syndicate started to go down the stairs to his basement. "Tom," User called out, using the mortal's first name. Syndicate paused and looked back up at User and Twisted.

"Tomorrow - tomorrow, I want to tell you what happened to me when I was dead."

**OMG, NO, DON'T DO IT! LOL, Orespawn references! XD**

**Random Observation: OH, I JUST REALIZED WHY ORESPAWN SHOULD HAVE BEEN ADDED TO MIANITE! No seriously, there's a sword in Orespawn that you can get from the crystal dimension - it's called the _Kyanite Sword_! HOW AWESOME WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN, HUH?! XD**

**ironhideandratchet4ever: Yah, brah, killing Tucker is very cool! ;)**

**RusYRP: Undoubtedly so!**

**DiamondScribe: Are you forgetting that I'm a Dianitee? ;) In my eyes, Ianite is a *gets bleeped out* goddess! Oh, and I also finished the entire story last night... oh gosh, less than a week before the Mianite Collection ends for you guys... it's already finished for me.  
**


	5. Stories

**Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,567 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 5

User woke up to sunlight streaming through the windows and pooling on the floor in a golden puddle. He hadn't slept well at all last night – it wasn't nightmares though, it was the fact that he just didn't want to allow the opportunity for nightmares. He was tossing and turning all night, scared of what he would see once he fell asleep, getting tangled in the sheets more than once. He had finally sunk into the depths of sleep just as the grey dawn light was beginning to spread over the sky, but now, a few hours later, he was extremely tired.

User slowly climbed out of the bed, his movements sluggish as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He didn't want to let on how tired he was when he came downstairs, but he had been going quite a few days with very little sleep. He had probably gotten a little over seven hours worth of sleep in the past week – less than a tenth of the sleep he actually needed.

User sighed as he slipped on his goggles, leaving them nestled in his windswept hair as usual. Hope. That's what the goddess Khione had promised that he would always be able to see when she had appeared to the Fyre group many years ago, when they were still young. User wondered if she had known what would happen to him. If she had known that he would need to see hope.

Because right now, the future was looking pretty grim.

User also noticed a peculiar thing about his goggles since his return to life – they no longer gave him night vision. Before he had gone to the land of the dead, they had given him night vision when he wore them over his eyes. Now, they just seemed to make the world around him darker and more forbidding.

He supposed it was a side effect of what had happened right before he was brought back to life.

Which reminded him, he had promised to tell Syndicate what had happened to him in the land of the dead.

User shuddered, fearful of reliving his worst memories. That place was – beyond horrible. He had vowed that he would never wish death upon anyone after his own experience in the ashen grey forest.

"User?" Syndicate's voice drifted up the stairway. "Are you awake yet?"

"Yeah," User called back, forcing the tremor out of his voice. "Just give me a second and I'll be right down."

"Okay," Syndicate responded. "I have breakfast ready too, if you feel like eating."

User's mouth twitched into a smile and he grabbed his jacket from where it was hanging from a hook on the wall, slipping it on over his T-shirt. Syndicate must have cleaned his jacket early this morning, because there was not a spot of mud left covering the dark blue and gold lined coat.

User walked over to the stairway and walked down, seeing that Syndicate was already sitting at his table, a plate of pancakes that were drowned in maple syrup in front of him. User softly made his way over to the table, sitting down across from Syndicate.

"Where's Twisted?" User asked curiously, noticing his best friend's absence. Normally, the half-wizard would be up by now.

"Tucker wanted to tell everyone about something," Syndicate shrugged. "I told Twisted to go ahead and that I would take care of you. He left not too long ago but probably won't be back until late. Tucker has a habit of talking for hours."

"Ah," User nodded. His stomach growled loudly and he shrank down, embarrassed. Syndicate laughed, clearly amused.

"There's a plate of pancakes sitting on the counter," Syndicate grinned. "The syrup's over there too."

User smiled gratefully, and after getting up, covering his pancakes in syrup, and walking back over to the table, began to eat slowly, taking cautious bites.

"Eat up," Syndicate encouraged cheerfully. "You look half-starved."

User didn't want to eat. The food tasted like ash in his mouth. But he obliged, and managed to get through two pancakes before he just couldn't eat any more. User swallowed and took his half-finished breakfast over to the counter, setting it down in the sink. He went back over to the table and sat down, staring at his hands, which lay still on the table.

Syndicate finished eating after not too long and wordlessly took his own plate over to the sink. He set his plate down next to User's, then went back over to the kitchen table.

"Are you ready to talk about it?" Syndicate asked gently. User nodded, choking back his nervousness.

"Where do you want me to start?" User whispered. _Yeah, I'm totally not stalling right now or anything._

"Start with what happened when you first entered the land of the dead," Syndicate said firmly. "And tell me everything."

User took a shaky breath and began to speak. "When I first woke up in the land of the dead, I immediately knew that I was in the afterlife. It was nothing but a flat plain of bleached grass, like old bones, and grey, dead trees. The sky was the colour of a rainy day and there was a thick white fog, right at eye level. There were tattered patches of darkness floating between the trees that I later learned were lost souls.

"Lost souls are the spirits, who, after everyone has forgotten about them, turn into dark, vengeful, hate-filled beings. Every time a new spirit enters the world, one of the lost souls will hunt them down and try to kill them again. They'll take the new spirit's memories, and they will become an ordinary spirit themselves for a little while before fading back into a lost soul. The other spirit though, will then immediately fade into a lost soul. Very few spirits manage to remain 'alive' long enough to be forgotten.

"I was terrified right from the start. I was certain that I would be trapped there for all eternity. I was barely in there for an hour before two lost souls started chasing me, trying to take my memories so they could return to their original form. They almost caught me several times, but I managed to scale a tree to escape from them.

"I stayed up in that tree for a long time, like a cat that had gotten stuck. When I finally came down, the lost souls were gone. I knew I couldn't relax though - that place held nothing but threat.

"It was another few days before my next encounter with a lost soul. It - it snuck up on my when I wasn't paying attention and grabbed my hand. I jerked away from it but the damage was done. It looked like long, dark, cracks were spreading across my hand and I looked away, feeling sick. When I looked back, my - my hand was nothing but b - bare bone.

"I stumbled away from the lost soul as fast as I could, but it wasn't fast enough. It - it caught me and pinned me against a tree. It started chanting something that I couldn't understand and - and -" User broke off, trembling. Syndicate was staring at him in shock, but quickly moved to comfort User, scooting his chair over so he could embrace User in a warm hug.

"Go on," Syndicate whispered encouragingly. "You can tell me."

"I - I started to dissolve," User whimpered. "Syndicate, I was literally _crumbling_ to pieces. The dark cracks from earlier spread across my whole body and right then, at that moment, I _saw _Death.

"Death was a - a horrible de - demon. Imagine your worst fear. Now multiply that by ten million. That is the extent of the terror I felt when I looked at Death. I - I felt something sn - snap inside me at that moment, staring into D - Death's eyes. I fell into a shivering, sobbing wreck, and as I did so, I felt as though I was becoming feather-light. Now, I knew from experience that that was not how dying felt like, so I was confused.

"Then I blinked, and I was surrounded by a blinding white light. I blinked again, and the world came back into focus. I was alive again. I was breathing. I wasn't c - crumbling into bits of darkness like I had been just mo - moments before. But I knew I would never be safe again - never be happy. And I would never be able to see ho - hope in the same way again."

User finished his story and struggled to hold back a sob. Telling Syndicate hadn't made the fear disappear at all - rather, the opposite. His terror seemed to intensify as he recalled the face of the true horror of Death.

Syndicate opened his mouth as if to reassure User that he was safe now, or some nonsense, but was interrupted by Twisted slamming open the door and making both Syndicate and User jump.

"Guys," Twisted began, before pausing and taking in the scene before him - Syndicate's eyes filled with shock and horror, and User shaking badly. Then he visibly swallowed and continued, his voice laced with an urgent tone.

"We have a serious problem."

**Oh! Suspense is rising! Poor User tells us about his time in the land of the dead! The others learn of the dragon! And in all of this, where is Kundime? Find out next chapter!**

**Random Observation: Ya'll know that there are a bunch of stories in the _Mianite Collection_ by now - but did you know that they weren't all published in the order I thought of them? I first came up with the idea for TCL after watching one of Jordan's livestreams, and from then on, I thought of The Prankster's Blade (which was never published), TWC, TPD, THS, TMJ, THM, and TBP!**

**MyBrokenHeart123: And now you learn the reason why... it just seems to get sadder and sadder!**

**DiamondScribe: Sorry, no can do with PMing the whole story! XD If you want, I could PM you a bit of the ending though... And I really don't want this collection to end either! I just feel like this brought me a lot closer to writing, and it's probably going to be a huge blow, not writing about Dec or Wag or any of the others, at least for a while.**

**RusYRP: Yeah, they are! They will always be there - except when they are not...**

**TheUserCreated: Okay, you can stop calling yourself that now. It was funny the first time, now it's just getting weird.**


	6. Song

**Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,305 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 6

_It was funny how much Richard had changed in just a year._

_Not only was he taller and leaner, but he was a lot more melancholy and quiet. He didn't try to help the animals anymore, but he flinched whenever he walked by some poor forest animal that was injured or dying. Richard could still hear them – still hear their voices – but he couldn't do anything about it._

_'__Help me! Please! My – my foot is caught!'_

_'__It hurts…. Why… does it hurt… so much…?'_

_'__Please, sir, you have to help me! I can't find enough food! My children are starving! Please!'_

_Richard swallowed, staring down at the ground. He couldn't pretend that the animals' pleas weren't there; they were, and it was so difficult to ignore them. He knew that would just make his father angry if he helped them._

_"__What is wrong with you today Richard?" His father asked curiously, glancing back. Richard wordlessly shook his head, not wanting to get punished for 'lying', even if he was telling the truth. "Hey, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong."_

_"__If I told you, then you wouldn't believe me," Richard whispered._

_"__Oh really?" His father murmured. "What would it be about? The animals again? Richard, I told you to stop that nonsense."_

_"__But it's not!" Richard protested. "Honest to Notch, I can hear them! I'm not lying!"_

_"__Enough, Richard," His father snarled. "I've had enough. I thought you knew better."_

_"__Fine," Richard swallowed. "If that's really what you want, then goodbye. I'm leaving. You clearly don't want me around."_

_"__Now wait just a second," Richard's father narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"_

_"__I mean that I don't want to be accused of lying when I'm telling the truth. I'm done with you. I'm done with this. You said yourself that something was different about me, but you refused to accept that my ability to hear and talk to animals was that. So I'm going, and I'm not coming back," Richard said determinedly, feeling his courage grow as he finished his little speech._

_His father's face turned pale and he stared at Richard in shock. Richard didn't wait for a response – he turned and stalked quickly off the path into the woods, not looking back. He wasn't a liar and he didn't want to be called a liar._

_"__Wait!" Richard walked slightly faster when he heard his father call out behind him. There was no turning back now. What had been done was done. Defeat was not an option. Submission was the worst possible decision. Surviving alone was the only way._

_Richard walked until nightfall, unsure of where he was going, but obeying his instinct nonetheless. A few whippoorwills started singing – singing about long cold winters, and the sorrows they bring._

_Richard paused for a moment and listened to the whippoorwills' songs. Then he took a deep breath and joined in with a song of his own._

"Oh how, the whippoorwill cries

He sings of a sorrow to come

Oh how, the whippoorwill flies

He knows of a winter to come

X

He sings his song to warn today

Of frost-white flakes and bitter cold

He sings his song, then flies away

To the southerly lands of old

X

Oh how, the whippoorwill cries

He sings of a sorrow to come

Oh how, the whippoorwill flies

He knows of a winter to come

X

He stays in this land 'till the first snow falls

He warns his friends with his mournful song

Why does he bother singing at all?

Why does he stay in this land so long?

X

Oh how, the whippoorwill cries

He sings of a sorrow to come

Oh how, the whippoorwill flies

He knows of a winter to come."

_Richard watched as the whippoorwills slowly stopped singing to listen to his own sad, sweet song. By the time he had finished, not a single bird was joining in – they had just been listening to him._

_"__Please, sing some more for us, young sir," A young whippoorwill chirped excitedly, ruffling his feathers. "Please, sing."_

_"__Yes, sing!" The other whippoorwills started clamoring for Richard to sing more, hopping up and down on the branches and flapping their wings. Richard smiled faintly and tried to think of another song for the birds. Coming up with none, he decided to just create his own right there._

"In the moonlight, in the moonlight

A young elf dances in the moonlight

Spirits watch with a loving smile

The young elf dancing in the moonlight

X

Her dress is gossamer, her eyes glint crystal blue

Her silver-blond hair is speckled with flowers

She picked those flowers in the dawn of the day

Now awakens in the moonlight her powers

X

She dances with a gracefulness, and sings with a peacefulness

That rivals that of young does, that rivals that of birdsong

The spirits wake to watch her, to praise and adore her

She has been dancing, dancing for so long

X

In the moonlight, in the moonlight

A young elf dances in the moonlight

Spirits watch with a loving smile

The young elf dancing in the moonlight."

_The whippoorwills were stunned into complete silence by the time Richard ended the second song. They didn't even ask for more, they just stared at him with their wide, dark eyes filled with awe._

_"__Do you have any songs for me now?" Richard asked softly, staring up at the multitudes of brown-feathered birds that were perched in the trees, watching him. "I want to hear you sing too."_

_One of the larger whippoorwills hopped a bit on her branch, then puffed out her chest and began to sing. The others followed suit, joining in and singing at different pitches to create a beautiful, melodious tune._

"They say a spring breeze carries

Away the winter cold

And brings in new life

To replace the old

X

They say a summer breeze takes

Away the raindrops

And gives us warmth

And grows our crops

X

They say an autumn breeze steals

Away the laughter

And paints the trees

With colours after

X

They say a winter breeze tears

Away the snowflakes

And coats the ground

And ices the lakes

X

They say a season's breeze

Reflects the hearts that feel them

From falling leaves, to falling flakes

From golden wheat, to flower's stem."

_The whippoorwills began to sing it a second time through and this time, Richard joined in. He sang in human tongue, starting soft, but growing louder as more birds joined in the song._

_"__Hey!" Richard abruptly stopped singing and whipped around, searching for the source of the voice with wide frantic eyes. The whippoorwills' voices died off, as though they sensed Richard's moment of panic. "What are you doing out here?"_

_Three other boys, probably a little older than him, emerged from the trees. In the lead was a tall, scrawny boy who looked about fourteen with shaggy black hair and faintly glowing silver eyes. Then there was another boy who had the hood of his cloak pulled over his face, even though his diamond-coloured eyes shone out brightly. Lastly, the tallest boy, who looked about fifteen or sixteen, had dark brown hair and solid green eyes._

_"__Hi! I'm James, and this is Tom and Chase," The boy in the lead introduced himself and his friends behind him. "What's your name?"_

_Richard hesitated to tell these new people his name. What if they weren't friendly? What if they would hurt him?_

_"__Be brave," The large whippoorwill from earlier chirped at Richard. "Use your creativity. Think of a name to tell them if you don't want to use your own."_

_Finally, after another moment's worth of hesitation, Richard took a deep breath and turned to face James._

_"__My name," He said slowly, and slightly cautiously, "Is User."_

**So much singing... and User meets what is the beginning of the Fyre group! (For more backstory on how the Fyre group came together, see TWC)**

**Random Observation: Sunday morning - I had never held a saxophone in my life. Sunday night - I was putting music to the second song this chapter playing - you guessed it - an alto saxophone. I have NEVER picked up on how to play an instrument so fast before! XD**

**DiamondScribe: ONE MORE DAY NOW! *sings* One more day, until chap-ter seven!**

**RusYRP: You're ready for more? Then be prepared for a little surprise on Monday... ;)**

**OstrichLord4Lyfe: LOL! XD Spanish keyboard FTW!**

**TUCITC: You actually had me legitimately worried... XD. No joke, I was checking User's Twitter to see if he actually HAD said anything about reading the Mianite Collection! And I'm going to take a nab at this - you're actually Ianitethecookie! Good to see you back, if you are, which I am pretty sure of!**

**MyBrokenHeart123: I've only been watching Mianite through Wag and Dec, and I was watching FyreUK livestream it. But they won't start livestreaming Mianite again until the 23rd... which is conveniently the day this story ends!**


	7. Zero

**Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 2,630 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

**Review Replies up top because I wanted them to be.  
**

**MyBrokenHeart123: Aw, don't be like that! Some Mianite characters will be returning in the new story! ...And get killed off in the same chapter that they were introduced in... XD  
**

**ironhideandratchet4ever: Nah, it'll be fine! ;)  
**

**OstrichLord4Lyfe: Maybe I will! It's more of an 'update-when-I-feel-like-it' sort of thing though - not an actually 'serious' story. And I dropped Diamond a few hints about this chapter previously so that's why she wants to see it so badly!**

**RusYRP: Thank you! And about the sax - I tried to play it the next day but failed miserably. XD So much for that!**

**DiamondScribe: Naw, you won't need to do it. Just embrace it. Let it carry you away like an ocean wave... the ocean of tears. I don't know. I'm just being random at this point.**

**IaniteTC: What, you mean you're not going to stick around for 'Amulet'? ;) There's going to be even more YouTubers and even more fun!**

Chapter 7

"Now User, if you want to defend yourself against the dragon, you need to be brave enough to fight and not fall into a flashback," Syndicate pulled an iron sword out of a chest and tossed it over to User, who just barely managed to catch it before it smacked into him. User stared at Syndicate in mild shock, fear beginning to creep into his heart.

"Wha – what?" User stuttered, hesitant to fight anyone or anything. Syndicate frowned at him before grabbing another iron sword for himself.

"Listen User, I know you've been through a lot. I know it's hard for you to cause or see death. But that's what makes this all the more urgent," Syndicate stared at User. "That dragon is out to _kill_. He will not hesitate to rip you apart if you can't fight back."

User shuddered and tried to back away from Syndicate as the mortal walked towards him. Syndicate grabbed his arm and tilted his head with a slight smirk.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked lightly. "It's time to train. You need to become a fighter, not a 'fraidy-cat. And the only way to do that is practicing with a sword. Trust me; you'll get braver over time."

"You really think so?" User snorted, doubtful. "You really think it will be so easy for me to – to shove my memories aside?"

"Not easy – but I know you can do it," Syndicate smiled confidently. "You're stronger than you seem User, I know you are. Others might not see it. They might think you've been broken for good. But one of my favourite quotes has always been 'Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with the smiles and not the tears that roll.' That's what gives me hope when I most need it. I know you can get past this, User. I believe in you."

User smiled gratefully at Syndicate, and didn't protest as the mortal led him out of the armoury, iron sword in hand. He followed close behind, ascending the stone brick staircase and tiptoeing quietly past Twisted, who was passed out on Syndicate's kitchen table, exhausted. Almost immediately after he had gotten back and passed on the news about the dragon to Syndicate and User, he left to go work on some strong fortifications for the other mortal's houses. Even now, a day later, he was still tired. Building with powerful magic had always drained his energy quicker than the others in the FyreUK group – mainly because he wasn't a full wizard.

"Do not tickle the sleeping beast," Syndicate whispered to User as they passed Twisted, grabbing a rucksack that was seemingly filled with supplies and lying at the door. "If thou should tickle and awaken him, I would have to fear the worst for you, my friend."

User had to stifle a snort of laughter and continued to follow Syndicate as they left his house and ventured off to the 'training grounds.' It seemed to be far away in the desert, well past the Coliseum and even Dine-at-Nite.

Finally, Syndicate stopped near a desert temple, the old sandstone structure looking as though it would crumble at any given second. User felt a twinge of unease, but thankfully Syndicate didn't venture inside the ancient temple, instead dropping his rucksack next to the structure.

"Now," Syndicate whirled to face User, brandishing his sword. User stepped back and away from the sharp blade, heart pounding in fear. Syndicate frowned at User's negative reaction before shrugging it off.

"First lesson of bravery in battle – you have two seconds or less to think of a plan which involves your strategy for the next five minutes of fighting because that's probably how long it will be before you have a chance to make your next plan," Syndicate explained quickly, leaving User's head in a whirl. The wizard nodded, getting the gist of what Syndicate was trying to get across. "Now, I'm going to be lenient and give you five seconds to think of a plan before I attack you. Go."

User tried desperately to concentrate on formulating a plan but all he could think about was what would happen if Syndicate's sword accidentally slipped… if the shining iron blade just sunk deep into User's chest… if the world faded around him before Syndicate could even call for help…

With a ferocious battle cry, Syndicate leapt forwards, surprising User out of his terrified trance. Desperate, User parried Syndicate's sword with shaking hands, barely managing to hold on to his own blade as Syndicate performed a fancy maneuver that nearly knocked User's sword away. He tried to make his own attack against Syndicate, but his strikes were clumsy and poorly aimed.

"Enough!" Syndicate demanded, barely winded. However, User, even after such a brief session, was panting for breath, the exhaustion from very little sleep and the lack of proper nourishment from not eating enough finally catching up to him. "User, you weren't even thinking about a strategy were you? You were thinking about death in battle. You've got to stop that," Syndicate didn't sound angry as much as just disappointed. "Stop living in the past. Focus on the present. You have to _live_ your life, not dwell on it. Remember: life's too short – make the most of it. Now let's try again, and this time, _concentrate_."

Syndicate and User trained for a few more hours and User found that even though he was completely exhausted and his muscles were aching, he was improving rapidly with his sword skills. He wasn't even thinking about death anymore – he was just focused on beating Syndicate, who had hardly let User take a break yet remained as fresh and alert as ever himself.

"Alright," Syndicate slipped his sword back into its sheath as User failed for the umpteenth time to disarm the mortal. User was trembling slightly, but it wasn't from fear or panic this time – it was from adrenaline and excitement. "Let's move onto bows. You look about ready to collapse, User. But I would assume that you are very good with bows since you go hunting and all."

"I'm alright," User shrugged. "I taught Ryley a couple tricks a few years back, but I haven't actually gone hunting in quite a few months now. Not since before the whole incident with Dec and me."

"Well it's time to get back into the swing of things with the bow then," Syndicate cautiously padded into the desert temple and reemerged a few seconds later, holding two bows and several quivers of arrows. He tossed a bow and quiver over to User, who was able to catch them much more smoothly than his fumble with the sword. User immediately slung the quiver over his shoulder, the familiar weight providing a sense of comfort, as did the gleam of polished flint and the pine-sap smell from the stick.

"I've got a couple apples here," Syndicate dug through his rucksack until he found some of the rounded red fruit. "Throw and shoot technique, let's try that for starters okay?" User nodded and nocked and arrow, keeping his eyes trained on the apple in Syndicate's hand.

Syndicate took a deep breath and tossed the apple high up into the air, watching it with gleaming black eyes. User narrowed his eyes and drew back his bow, and with one swift motion, shot the apple dead center at the peak of its toss, sending apple juice splattering into the sky. The apple fell to the ground, the feathery end of the arrow sticking out of the fruit.

Syndicate stared at the apple in shock and amazement. "You call yourself 'alright'?" He breathed. "That was insane! How were you even able to make that shot?"

"Practice," User shrugged, feeling a bit of pride. "If I wanted to, I could probably hit a squirrel dead center between the eyes from thirty meters away. I've done it before."

Syndicate opened his mouth to say something else, but was drowned out by an earth-shaking roar. User flinched, jumping back as he jerked his head around, trying to find where the noise had come from.

There. There it was. The dragon that Tucker had told everyone about, silhouetted against the golden afternoon sun. There was no doubt about it – this dragon was not normal. For one, it was at least twice the size of a regular Ender dragon, and for another, its path was straight and unwavering, incredibly different from an Ender dragon's wayward route.

The dragon sped towards Syndicate and User, its mouth half open and its dark purple eyes burning with the fire of hate. It swooped low to the ground and opened it's dark maw just a little wider. User's eyes grew terrified as he realized what the dragon was about to do.

"Move!" He screeched, barging into Syndicate, who was frozen in terror, and knocking him out of the way just as the dragon breathed a blast of white-hot flame at them. Syndicate seemed startled into action and scrambled to his feet, drawing his iron sword. User readied his bow and swallowed down with terror. At least if the dragon were to kill him, he would die with honour this time.

User knew that just him and Syndicate, one armed with an unenchanted bow and the other armed with a simple iron sword, would not be able to take down this monster. It was a hopeless fight. But they had to try. They had to for the sake of everyone in the Overworld.

Syndicate charged forwards without hesitation, screaming out a furious battle cry. The dragon whipped its head around to glare at Syndicate baring its fangs threateningly. User saw his chance and shot an arrow at the dragon, hoping that the projectile would at least be able to pierce its thick hide. Instead, his hopes were dashed as the arrow shattered on impact against the dragon's hard scales.

At least it was enough to turn the dragon's attention away from Syndicate, and it focused on User. It was about to shoot more deadly fire at User before Syndicate gave a mighty leap and clambered up the dragon's flank like it was no problem. The dragon snarled and jerked around, trying to throw Syndicate from its back. Syndicate managed to hold on, and with a cat-like agility, sprinted up the dragon's weaving neck and crouched on the mighty beast's head. The dragon roared in anger, but before it could even shoot fire, Syndicate had buried his sword deep in one of the dragon's glowing purple eyes. The dragon howled in agony and thrashed around, rearing up to try and get Syndicate off.

That's when User saw it.

The chink in the armour.

Right on the dragon's underbelly, there was a scale that was slightly off, leaving just a bit of exposed flesh. It was small, yes, but big enough for a well-placed arrow to slip through.

Syndicate suddenly screamed and User's attention was thrown back to the battle of life and death with the mortal and the dragon. User's heart caught in his throat as he saw what had happened.

The dragon had Syndicate held tightly in one paw, its silver claws wrapped tightly around the zombie-man. It growled, staring at User and ignoring Syndicate's futile struggles.

"_This mortal will be the first of many_," The dragon snarled, its voice deep and masculine. "_Better say goodbye, wizard. Your time is up._"

And just like that, the dragon forcefully tossed Syndicate at the desert temple, sending him crashing through the weak sandstone supports. Time seemed to slow down as the stone crumbled, and with a horrible groaning sound, collapsed…

Right on top of Syndicate.

User heard a scream, though at that moment, he didn't know if it was from him or Syndicate. Ignoring the dragon, who was laughing cruelly, User ran to the collapsed temple, now just a pile of sandy ruins.

"Tom!" User cried, calling the mortal by his first name in desperation. He spotted a bit of blood behind one of the pillars and ran over, tears blurring his eyes and catching in his throat.

There lay Syndicate, utterly crushed and broken under the crumbled pillar. There was a thin stream of blood trickling from his mouth and he was limp, every single bone in his body shattered from the impact alone. He opened his eyes slowly as User drew closer to him and stared at the wizard, pain glistening in his dark eyes.

"User?" Syndicate whispered, his voice weak. "You… have to kill the dragon…"

"No," User begged, tears starting to stream down his cheeks. He fell to his knees next to Syndicate and gently took the mortal's bloodied hand. His body was almost completely covered by the collapsed column and User knew that no one could save Syndicate from death – not even a god. "I – I can't without you."

"You have to," Syndicate breathed. His eyes fluttered and he appeared to be struggling to not let them close. "Please… User… remember... make - make the most of life…"

Syndicate's voice faded away and his eyes dimmed, clouded over with the shadow of death. User sobbed, letting himself grieve – grieve for the only friend he had ever told about the horrors he had seen in the land of the dead.

The dragon roared again outside and User felt a steely determination fill his heart. Syndicate was _dead_ because of this monster. He couldn't let anyone else be hurt or killed because of this horrible beast.

Shaking slightly from rage and sorrow, User picked up his fallen bow. He slowly drew an arrow out of his quiver, knowing that he would only get one chance at this. Taking a deep breath, User realized that he didn't feel any exhaustion. He didn't feel any adrenaline. He only felt a burning determination to avenge Syndicate's death.

And if he was killed as well, then he was going to take that bitch-ass dragon down with him.

"Hey! Stupid-scale!" User cried, darting out into the open. The dragon roared furiously and swung around to face User, lifting up slightly into the air, his wings pounding heavily against the hot breeze. User readied his bow and fixed his eyes on the chink in the armour. This was it. This was the final battle.

"Come and get me, you hideous beast!" User roared, and as the dragon swooped overhead, exposing the weak spot on its underbelly, User let the arrow fly.

It hit its mark perfectly, embedding itself deep into the dragon's hide. The dragon screamed, a horrible screeching noise filled with agony, surprise, and a sense of doom. The dragon flew higher up into the air and User collapsed to his knees on the sand, watching the dragon's unsteady flight with dull, unfocused eyes.

Then the dragon grew limp. Its wings stopped beating and it almost seemed to hover for a second. Then the dragon slowly fell, tumbling down to the ground in a mass of black scales and leathery wings, gaining momentum with every passing meter.

_3…_ User counted the seconds. He was directly under the falling dragon.

_2…_ User collapsed onto his back, bracing himself for the impact.

_1…_ User closed his eyes as the dragon landed directly on top of him, crushing his body under several tons of scaly dragon carcass.

_0._

**TOMMMMMMMM! USERRRRRRRR! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! *sobs*  
**

**Random Observation: So yeah, I kind of tossed aside that whole 'between 1,000 and 2,000 words' rule - but I wouldn't split this chapter for anything in the world!  
**


	8. Goddess

**Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,713 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 8

"User!" Twisted called, desperation very apparent in his voice. User and Syndicate had gone out early yesterday morning, and they hadn't come back yet. Twisted hated to assume the worst for them, but it wasn't looking good.

Sparklez had said he had heard distant roars while he was over at the Coliseum yesterday, but couldn't tell where they were coming from. He was helping in the search for User and Syndicate now too, along with Wag and Firefoxx. They were all armed with powerful weapons in case they needed to defend themselves against the dragon.

Sparklez was walking along next to Twisted, the Bow of Ianite in hand. He refused to believe that Ianite wanted to take over the Overworld, but had definitely agreed that the dragon needed to be eliminated.

And he was the first to notice the massive heap of black scales draped lifelessly over the ground.

"Twisted!" Sparklez breathed, grabbing Twisted's shoulder. Twisted followed the mortal's gaze and gasped, drawing his sword. The dragon was stretched out over the sand, one massive wing resting on top of a collapsed desert temple. It appeared to be dead, but that raised an even bigger question.

Who killed it and where were they?

"Do you think -" Apparently Sparklez decided that it was better not to say what he was thinking and left his sentence hanging. But Twisted knew what he meant – he was having the same thought.

"We have to check," Twisted said determinedly. Sparklez nodded without hesitation and together, they walked over to the dead dragon carcass, stepping lightly over the sifting sand. Twisted looked around and was about to give up hope when he saw something that made his heart stop beating.

A pale, bony hand sticking out from under the dragon's right front leg.

"User!" Twisted shrieked, darting over. Sparklez gasped and jogged over to Twisted, who was frantically trying to lift the dragon's heavy leg, only to no avail.

"Oh gods, no!" Sparklez tried to help Twisted, grabbing one of the dragon's silver claws and using it to tug the dragon's leg away, revealing User's battered and broken form.

User was incredibly pale, and he was smeared with blood from numerous scrapes. His right arm was still pinned under the dragon's chest, and his goggles were missing, most likely crushed as well. He didn't appear to have any major external injuries, but Twisted knew with a sinking heart that User must have been hopelessly crushed.

Then User drew in a shuddering breath, calling Twisted's attention to the faint rise and fall of the wizard's chest. He wasn't dead – at least, not yet. But Twisted knew that he didn't have enough healing magic to save his friend. The only wizards who did were Wag and Tom, and even that may not be enough.

But they had to try.

"Sparklez," Twisted swallowed down his panic and turned to the mortal. "You need to find Wag and Firefoxx. Wag's the only one who can save User. You have to go – _now_."

Sparklez nodded and ran off without question, kicking up clouds of sand as he raced across the desert. Twisted turned back to User, keeping his eyes trained on User's shallow breathing, getting ready to tap into his own small supply of healing magic should it slow down or become even fainter.

As User lay still, Twisted was finally able to realize just how hard it was for him to get over his experience in the land of the dead. The dark circles under his eyes were almost black, obviously showing how much sleep he was losing to nightmares; or to the fear of them. He was faintly trembling, even though he was unconscious and seemed beyond frail from his lack of appetite.

Twisted was suddenly reminded of something: where was Syndicate? They hadn't found the mortal and had no clue if he had survived or not. Twisted decided that while he waited for Sparklez to get back with Wag and Sonja, he would look around the area for any sign of Syndicate.

It didn't take long for him to find a bit of torn black cloth from Syndicate's tuxedo near the crumbled desert temple. Twisted frowned as he saw small droplets of blood and followed them over to a collapsed pillar, where the drops turned into a large pool of blood.

Twisted gasped as he saw Syndicate, lifelessly buried under the rubble of the pillar. Blood had soaked through his tuxedo and he was mangled horribly, completely crushed. His eyes were half-open and glassy, and he was obviously dead.

There would be no happy ending for Syndicate. He was gone, too far gone to even consider bringing him back to life. Twisted choked out a sob and slumped down with his back against one of the half-crumbled sandstone walls, his hand over his mouth.

Where was Syndicate right now, Twisted wondered. Was he fighting for his life in the land of the dead? Was he being hopelessly overwhelmed by angry spirits? Or was he already one of the lost souls, filled with sorrow from eternity on?

Twisted tried not to think about that. He tried not to think about how Syndicate would become a floating patch of darkness, cursed to steal the memories of any spirit who entered the land of the dead. He tried not to think of the poor mortal, staring into the face of Death itself as he was finally overwhelmed.

Thinking about that wouldn't make coping with the loss of Syndicate any easier. Twisted took one final glance at Syndicate's crushed body and felt a tear of sorrow slowly run down his cheek. He hadn't deserved to die. He was always trying to do the right thing, was fiercely loyal, and had been such a good friend to User these last few days. Twisted had noticed an obvious difference in User's personality after he had talked with Syndicate, and knew that he would be forever grateful to the mortal for helping his best friend.

"Why did this have to happen?" Twisted whispered, slowly walking back over to User. "Why couldn't we just have a normal life? Is that even too much to ask?"

Twisted sat down next to User and gently held the wizard's bloody hand. He was still half-covered by the dragon's paw, but at least it wasn't crushing him like before. Thankfully, User seemed to be breathing steadily now, but Twisted knew that he was still in danger of death.

"Come on! Hurry!" Sparklez's voice drifted over, carried by the wind. Twisted lifted his head to see Sparklez leading Wag and Firefoxx towards Twisted and User, gesturing frantically with his hands. Wag sped up when he saw User lying under the dragon's hefty paw and Firefoxx whimpered fearfully, obviously scared for User.

"He's still alive," Twisted murmured. "Can you help him, Wag?"

"I'll do my best," Wag nodded. He gently rested his hand on User's chest and closed his eyes, concentrating. A tendril of silver mist drifted down from the sky and enveloped User in a shimmering layer of magic. Firefoxx and Sparklez watched with wide eyes as the blood slowly vanished and User's eyes fluttered open. He sighed softly and the magic disappeared, dissolving into nothing. Wag swayed unsteadily and he lay down on his back, the powerful healing magic exhausting his energy.

Twisted realized that User's right arm was still trapped under the dragon's carcass and he struggled to lift the scaly hide away. Sparklez caught on quickly and hurried to help, and once they had shifted the dragon a little bit away, Firefoxx was able to gently pull User's arm out from under the dragon. User watched all of that with blank eyes, remaining silent.

"Syndicate?" User rasped shakily, his voice hollow. "Is he -"

"He's gone, User," Twisted struggled to hold back his tears. "I'm so sorry."

User closed his eyes and a violent shudder ran through his body. "It's my fault," He murmured hoarsely. "It's all my fault. We should never have come out here."

"He's – dead?" Firefoxx whispered. "How? Why?"

"The dragon," User responded immediately. "He – he was distracting the dragon so I could kill it, but the dragon caught him and threw him into the temple. Then it – it collapsed on top of him. I – I should have helped h – him. I should have k – killed that dragon before it could even h – hurt him."

"Oh, you poor things," A new voice crooned, eerily familiar, yet colder than ice. Twisted turned around in time to see a goddess appear in front of him, her multi-coloured eyes glinting ominously.

"I – Ianite?" Sparklez choked. "What are you doing? Wh – why did you send a dragon to kill us?"

Ianite laughed, a harsh, grating sound that sent shivers down Twisted's spine. "You think I would actually _submit_ to Mianite? To go along with his every command? Wrong. I have learned much since first being created, and one thing I know is to create the _perfect_ balance, the _perfect_ world, is to have one sole immortal ruler. Three will cause wars and mortals make them worse. So you see, to have peace, there must first be destruction – yours."

"W – Wrong," User shakily got to his feet and stared at Ianite, and though his eyes held a shattered look, Twisted knew that User hadn't shown this kind of bravery in a long time. He was stronger now, and that knowledge gave Twisted hope for his friend and for everyone. Ianite snarled, clearly disliking being challenged. Twisted felt something brush his shoulder and he turned to see Wag, determination filling his eyes as his energy returned. "Ianite, if there is anyone here who needs to be defeated, then it is you."

Sparklez and Firefoxx readied their weapons and User summoned an enchanted bow to his hands, as well as a quiver filled with arrows. Wag and Twisted drew their swords and glared at the goddess, who had summoned her own sword. It was time to take revenge for Syndicate.

User gave Ianite the Death Glare and glanced around at his friends. Twisted knew that User didn't care if he lived or died anymore – he wanted _vengeance_.

"Attack!" User roared, rage filling his voice, and just like that, the final battle had begun.

**"Is this the end of a new beginning? Or is this the beginning of the final end?" - Ender, after a _very_ bad day yesterday because she ended up deleting a good portion of her FNAF one-shot by accident.  
**

**Random Observation: I counted up all the words that I have written for the Mianite Collection (excluding Author's notes and the IAKN one-shots)... it amounted to a grand total of _105,461__ words!_ That. Is. Insane!**

**DiamondScribe: I think I may have broken your feel-o-meter again by the looks of things...**

**RusYRP: Was that supposed to be a pun? ;) 'Well executed?'**

**ironhideandratchet4ever: Well... at least User is alive, right? *laughs nervously***

**OstrichLord4Lyfe: Not as bad as the non-Mianite related fanfiction coming after this - the name is _Amulet_ but it's basically going to be _The Lord of the Amulets _because yeah. XD**

**MyBrokenHeart123: ****Eh... well... I NEEDED SOMEONE TO DIE OKAY?! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG! XD**


	9. Grey

**Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new chapter! 1,292 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 9

User swiftly nocked an arrow and aimed carefully. He was _done_ being scared. He was _done_ being frightened by death. Syndicate was right – he had to live, and not just be scared into submission. He had to be brave, for all his friends and for Syndicate, who had been wrongfully slaughtered all because of the so-called '_peace'_ goddess.

Wag and Firefoxx were right in the midst of the battle, dodging stabs and slices from Ianite's god sword, which was glowing with power. User let his arrow fly, but Ianite raised her sword to deflect it, and with one smooth swipe, knocked Wag away with the flat of the blade. Wag crashed into the half-crumbled wall of the temple and slumped to the ground. User gasped and ran over to check on his friend.

By the time User reached Wag, the wizard was already sitting up, clutching his left arm with his face twisted into an expression of intense pain. He swallowed as User approached but shook his head earnestly.

"Go back to the battle," Wag hissed through gritted teeth. "I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes."

User nodded swiftly, but screamed a second later, pushing Wag to the ground as a ball of purple energy exploded over their heads. Wag shrieked in pain as his injured arm smacked against the hard desert sand, but he managed to hold back a pained sob.

"Sorry," User apologized, then ran back to the fight. He was sure Wag wouldn't have objected to User saving his life, but his arm had to be hurting – it was at least fractured, if not broken. That kind of injury would definitely take a fair bit of magical energy to heal and User knew it would be a while before Wag was up for fighting again.

Meanwhile, the battle was going poorly for User's friends. Twisted was limping away as quickly as he could, his right leg twisted at an awkward angle. Sonja's hoodie was torn with numerous sword slices and blood trickled out of shallow cuts on her face. Sparklez's bow was lying on the ground, broken in half, and he was left to fight with the iron sword User had used in training with Syndicate.

"Attack from the left!" User commanded, his voice rising above the shouts and the chaos of the battle. Firefoxx and Sparklez started focusing on attacking Ianite's left side, and User started letting arrows rain down on Ianite from the right, knowing it would be nearly impossible for the goddess to defend both sides at once. Ianite's eyes flashed with panic and she struggled to block User's arrows while still attacking the furiously fighting mortals.

It wasn't long before Ianite began to back up, switching to defense. Wag rejoined the fight, shooting bursts of silver magic from his wand at a distance, his eyes narrowed in concentration. User felt his courage grow as he shot arrow after arrow, each hit damaging Ianite's godly armour even more. When he had emptied his quiver, he quickly summoned a new one and continued his rapid-fire assault.

"Enough!" Ianite screamed, beginning to glow. Every one of her opponents was knocked to the ground as she let a wave of purple energy wash over the area, sending pain shooting through User's body as it crashed into him. He wailed in agony, but struggled to his feet, several small cuts now littering his skin. They stung horribly, but he continued to attack Ianite, forcing himself to block out the pain.

"You cannot win against me!" Ianite howled. "I will crush you like mere ants! No one shall stand in my way!"

"Oh really?" User snarled. "Because it looks like we're doing a pretty good job right now, you ignorant bitch."

"That's it!" Ianite screeched in fury. "I will not tolerate your insolence any longer! Perhaps you would like to see what's happening to your little mortal friend, Syndicate, right now." Ianite swiftly grabbed User's arm, and despite his terrified cry of protest, she forced him into an alternate dimension right in the middle of the battle.

XxX

_User blinked and found himself surrounded by the scrawny trees and the bone-grass that had greeted him when he arrived in the land of the dead for the first time. User felt his heart pound with terror but there was something… off about how he felt._

_He didn't feel entirely in control of his movements, almost as though he was sharing his body. User blinked again and swallowed, glancing down at his hands._

_But they weren't his hands. The skin was a dark green, almost the colour of zombie skin. That's when User knew what Ianite had done._

_She had sent him into Syndicate's spirit as he roamed around the land of the dead, helpless and alone. He would be trapped in the mortal's body until he was torn out of Ianite's spell, but who knew how much time would pass in the land of the dead before that happened._

_User felt Syndicate look around, staring at everything with wide eyes. He could distantly feel Syndicate's terror, awakening within him the raw fear he too had felt upon arriving in the land of the dead for the first time. He didn't see any lost souls yet but he knew it wouldn't be long before they came._

_They always came. And they never left._

_User trembled as he realized what was going to happen to Syndicate. He was going to be faced with fearsome, vengeful souls, then fall to their hands, crumbling away in the face of Death._

_"So this is death," User heard Syndicate murmur. "I wonder if…"_

_A black sword suddenly appeared in Syndicate's hands and User widened his eyes. How had he summoned that sword? And what was it even made out of?_

_"Of course," Syndicate chuckled, holding the sword up to study it. User was able to get a better look at the sword through Syndicate's eyes and noticed that the material that the sword was made out of was dark and smoky, and almost smelled like an underground cave. "This is only a layer of reality that doesn't exist. Willpower and hate is the only thing that controls it. And I'd be willing to bet that this sword is made of Wither poison. That should make it deadly enough to any spirits who dare show their faces near me."_

_User felt his heart lift slightly. Syndicate was tearing away the fear in the land of the dead. That would make him stronger, and more able to defend himself. It might also act as a shield of sorts to keep the lost souls away – or it would act as a strong aura, angering them further and making them gang up on Syndicate._

_User hoped it would end up being the shield._

_Syndicate swung his sword through the air as an experimental test, and the wither magic left little smoky particles behind. They danced through the air before dissolving, and User blinked._

_"Talk about hope in the darkest night," Syndicate chuckled. "There's hope with this darkened sword. I suppose now I just have to wait."_

_User soon found that Syndicate was right. Glowing red eyes appeared in a loose circle around him, glaring evilly at the sword. None of the lost souls dared to make a move forwards just yet, and Syndicate raised his murky sword as though daring them to challenge him._

_With a single unified screech, all the lost souls burst out of the shadows, their dark shapes billowing as they swarmed Syndicate. User cried out as his vision to the land of the dead suddenly faded, leaving him with the final image of Syndicate's rage-filled screams as he began the fight for his life._

**Ermagersh, this is such a short chapter compared to the rest of the story. XD  
**

**Random Observation: I strongly object to Wag not liking bananas. I mean, I was shocked at everything else he said he didn't like, but I just got angry with the bananas. Of course, I am someone who will pass up Krispy Kreme donuts if only to get a banana for breakfast! XD**

**kay66727: Oh... but I did... *grins evilly***

**ironhideandratchet4ever: ALWAYS!**

**RusYRP: It made my heart break writing about it...**

**DiamondScribe: If there can be 'tear-jerking' there can be 'feel-jerking'!**

**Phoenix-Magic: I'm sorry... wait... no I'm not! I love torturing people with the feels!**

**MyBrokenHeart123: Hmm... let me think... who dies next? Oh... well... they don't exactly deserve it... no. You're not gonna be happy with me then.**


	10. Eyes

**Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this final chapter! 1,477 words this chapter. 15,550 words this story. NOTE: I do not own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.**

Chapter 10

User jerked back to reality and found that the battle had almost ended.

But it was not in the Overworlders' favour.

Sparklez was sprawled limply on the ground, blood covering his forehead from what looked to be a deep wound. Wag was crying, distraught, a little ways away from User, holding the two halves of his snapped wand. Firefoxx was panting from exhaustion, but was still fighting weakly while Twisted was desperately trying to hit Ianite with a bow.

Ianite was barely hurt at all, and her green/purple eyes burned with a murderous anger. She was shooting more purple power orbs, which were exploding all around the area, creating huge craters in the sand. User flinched as one of the orbs exploded a few meters away from him, sending dark purple shrapnel flying at his face.

"Come to join the show?" Ianite jeered, throwing a dirty look at User. "It's about time you woke up!"

"And whose fault is that?" User spat, grabbing his own wand. He usually preferred using his bow, but the wand was more powerful – and besides, he might know a spell to imprison Ianite for good. He just needed a source of containment.

User's eyes drifted to Ianite's crown, the gold circlet gleaming in the evening light. It was studded with a gleaming eye of ender – a rare and valuable item. It would be able to hold a god's power.

The problem was getting it.

"Twisted!" User hissed, darting over to his friend. Twisted turned to face him, his eyes bright with pain. "We need to get Ianite's crown! It's the only way to stop her! If we imprison her powers in the eye of ender, then she won't be able to harm us!"

"That's great," Twisted grunted. "How do we get her crown?"

"You distract her," User was reminded of Syndicate when he started to come with a plan to defeat Ianite in the midst of battle. He grew braver as he thought of where Syndicate was now, taking down all those lost souls with a spirit of fire, and making all hell break loose. "I'll get Firefoxx to retreat. From then on – I'll improvise."

"Sounds like a typical plan," Twisted shrugged. "Alright. Oh, and make sure Firefoxx is definitely safe before you… attempt to take Ianite's crown. Ianite – she was able to get a pretty nasty hit on Sparklez when he got too close."

"Duly noted," User stole another glance at Sparklez, who hadn't moved. "Let's go."

Twisted ran to the left while User sprinted at a diagonal angle towards Ianite. Firefoxx was completely on the defense now, her weapon knocked from her hands. She was rolling and dodging, trying to weave her way around Ianite's explosive energy orbs, all the while slowly making her way to her fallen sword.

Twisted started to shoot more arrows at Ianite, causing the goddess to turn her attention to him. She roared angrily as Firefoxx recovered her sword and tried to attack Ianite again. Ianite knocked the mortal aside with one solid swipe and Firefoxx yelped, clutching her ribs with her face twisted into an expression of intense pain.

"Move, Firefoxx!" User shouted, spotting one of the purple energy crystals heading at a direct path towards her. She managed to crawl out of the explosion radius of the blast before it impacted with the ground, but immediately fell limp, the exhaustion and the pain sapping any energy that she had left.

User swallowed. He was still able to keep fighting, but Twisted was much weaker, having been in the thick of the battle before. Firefoxx, Sparklez, and Wag were out of the action completely. They had only one chance at retrieving Ianite's crown. If they failed…

If they failed, the world would end.

User took a deep breath and jumped forwards, knocking Ianite off her feet. She screamed in fury, trying to attack User with her sword, but the wizard wrested it from her grasp before she could strike him.

"You have caused enough chaos, _Ianite_," User snarled, shoving his wand to her throat. Her multi-coloured eyes burned in rage, but she didn't speak up, perhaps sensing that User wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she resisted. "You sent a dragon to murder us. You upset the _peace_ in this world; the _balance_. And you. Killed. Syndicate." User forcefully pulled Ianite's crown away, ignoring her angry shout.

"It is time," User hissed, "For you to be _silenced_." Ianite's eyes suddenly widened fearfully as she realized what User was going to do.

"_Bound į valdžią, savo įgaliojimus yra saugomi tik nuo magijos, jūsų atstatytas_," User chanted, and watched as a thin purple vapor trail appeared from Ianite's chest and drifted towards the eye of ender on her crown. "_Sunaikinimas praėjo, atnaujinimas arti, ir jūs savo įgaliojimus, įkalintas gali meluoti_!"

Ianite screamed as all her powers were absorbed into the eye of ender. Her form began to glow brightly and User swallowed down his fear. He had to complete the spell. He couldn't let go of the crown.

There was a flash of bright light and then there was nothing.

Was he dead?

No... death wasn't this bright.

There was a high-pitched ringing in User ears, but he couldn't get rid of it. The ringing slowly died away to be replaced by worried voices. User blinked and the world fell back into place around him.

The sky was stained with the fire of the evening sunset, the fluffy clouds outlined bronze and gold. Twisted and Wag were leaning over him, both with concern very clear in their eyes. User shifted his head slightly and saw Sparklez sitting up and staring around, confused, while Firefoxx cleaned away the blood on his face.

User sat up, and ignoring Twisted and Wag's cries of relief, searched around the sandy desert area.

There. There was the crown that he had risked his life to trap Ianite in. The goddess was nowhere to be seen, but now the eye of ender shimmered with a faint purple light, holding Ianite's powers inside of it.

"It's over," User breathed, staring at the crown. "It's finally over."

"Indeed," Wag followed User's gaze over to the crown. "Do you think we should put it in Mianite's temple and then explain what happened?"

"That sounds like a good idea," User nodded. "I see you healed Sparklez and Firefoxx as well?"

"Yup," Wag smirked. "My wand self-regenerates over time. But you gave us quite a scare, User. You stopped breathing for a couple minutes there."

User was surprised when Wag mentioned that he had almost died. He didn't feel afraid anymore when he thought of the land of the dead. He felt – stronger now. As though avenging Syndicate's death had refreshed his mind and energy.

"Well, I'm going to take the crown over to Mianite's temple," Wag walked over to the crown and picked it up. "I can go ahead and teleport Sparklez and Firefoxx back to their houses, but I don't think I'd have the strength to teleport you two as well."

"That's alright," Twisted shrugged. "We can walk. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt us."

"Twisted," User frowned. "I am a wizard too. I can teleport too. Do not underestimate me."

Wag burst out laughing and doubled over, but Twisted's face turned tomato-red. User chuckled at the sight of his best friend's embarrassed face.

"Did you forget?" User teased, watching as Twisted stared down at his feet, not wanting to meet the wizard's playful gaze.

"Well," Wag swallowed back another laughing fit. "Come on over Sparklez, Firefoxx. I'll see you guys a little later, I suppose. Oh and User?" User glanced back over at Wag as his fellow wizard grabbed on to Firefoxx and Sparklez's shoulders. "Good job today."

User nodded his thanks as Wag teleported away with Firefoxx and Sparklez, ready to take them home. User beckoned Twisted over with a wave of his hand, noticing with amusement that the half-wizard had finally recovered from his embarrassment. "Let's go home buddy."

User and Twisted teleported back to their own house where it still sat on the cliff top, overlooking Syndicate's home, black against the rapidly fading sunset. The landscape looked beautiful and unworldly on the cool twilight evening and User breathed in deeply, reveling in the feeling of breathing in life once again.

"You go on inside," User told Twisted, who was staring at him curiously. "I'll be a couple minutes." Twisted nodded wordlessly, though with a smile, as though he understood, then walked over to their house on silent feet.

User put on his goggles, just to give them a test. He blinked, and then slowly, a grin spread across his face. Night vision. He could see again. He could see _hope_.

User gazed out into the small grove of trees in front of his and Twisted's house, and just for a moment, he saw two dark eyes staring back at him, filled with an all-too familiar playful light.

Then he blinked and the eyes were gone, vanishing into the night as though they had never existed.

***wipes away tears* That seemed... like a fitting end for this series... *smiles* And I am very much content with all that I have accomplished within these stories!**

**Random Observation: Although I am sad to see the Mianite Collection come to an end, (and I'm sure y'all are too!), I have to remind myself that I have a new (non-Mianite related) story coming in just a week! So everyone, keep watch for _Amulet_! It's going to have a bunch of different YouTubers including AntVenom, CaptainSparklez, Skydoesminecraft, and more! Leave suggestions in the reviews if there are any YouTubers you want me to include!**

**ironhideandratchet4ever: Are you content with how I ended this then? ;)**

**Phoenix-Magic: I would hope that I answered most of those questions then!**

**YesIAmAUnicorn: But yay! A happy ending!**

**kay66727: Well, you'll have to answer the mystery for yourself - but personally, I think Tom managed to beat those lost souls to a pulp and was able to visit the Overworld for just a glimpse of his old life. Oh, and thanks for the cookie! *eats cookie* Ooh! How did you know macadamia nut was my favourite?! *hugs***

**RusYRP: So what did you think of this ending? Seemed a little bittersweet to me... ;)**

**DiamondScribe: Maybe 'Feel-provoking'? Yes... "This last chapter was definitely feel-provoking." That doesn't sound half-bad, now does it? ;)  
**

* * *

**Statistics of the Mianite Collection:**

**Total chapters: 80**

**Total words: 105,461**

**Total Reviews: 394 (as of 10 AM, February 25th)  
**

**Longest Chapter: 2,630 words, Chapter 7, _The Hunter's Memories_**

**Started: October 25th, 2014**

**Ended: February 23rd, 2015**

**Add-ons: _I Am King Now_**

**Favourite Book ******(My opinion)**: _The Priest's Dagger_  
**

**Favourite Quote: "You will never wear a mask upon your loyalties..." Khione to Phil (BruteAlmighty87), Chapter 9, _The Wizard's Curse_**

**Favourite Character (To write about): Declan (CommunityMC)  
**

**Favourite Shipping: Ryden or Ryley (Champwan) x Linden**

**Favourite Fans: YOU GUYS! *give many hugs***


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